Belgium considers voluntary military service initiative

Belgium’s defence minister Theo Francken is considering a voluntary military service programme aimed at increasing the amount of young people working in defence.

Belgium abolished its compulsory military service in 1995 and has no intention of reinstating a mandatory initiative, RTBF reports, but Francken sees a voluntary programme as a means of recruitment and plans to launch it "as soon as possible".

“All young men and women aged 18 will receive a letter from me inviting them to join the defence for one year,” said Francken.

Work on increasing the number of defence personnel already began during the previous parliamentary term: under the Star plan, the Belgian army aimed to have 29,000 soldiers by 2030, compared to 26,000 in 2021.

The new government will continue the recruitment drive and also increase the defence budget to 2% of GDP by the end of the legislature, justifying the measure by the geopolitical context in Europe and by the need to meet Nato obligations in terms of military investment.

Boris Morenville, head of the defence sector union, supports the notion of a voluntary service.

“Given the geopolitical context, when you want to increase the workforce and, above all, attract young people to the defence, it's a good idea,” Morenville said.

But Morenville foresees logistical issues: “Is the defence department capable of absorbing this task? No. We don't have the infrastructure resources.

"Given the disinvestment that’s taken place over the last 30 years in terms of logistics, it’s going to be very complicated to provide the equipment, too.

"If you add a layer of voluntary military service, it seems to me, at the moment, unrealistic in terms of human resources."

Military recruitment already faces a number of issues, Morenville said.

Four out of 10 candidates in 2024 did not complete their defence training, according to Het Nieuwsblad, while the defence minister's office said that an estimated 5% of recruits drop out during training.

“If we attract them as we did in the past, with a salary of €50 a month, we won't have many applicants, given the difficulty of purchasing power,” Morenville said.

Unions also worry that even if there were enough staff to supervise young volunteers, the instructors would still have to be motivated amid major criticism of the military pension reform scheme.

“It's going to complicate the equation even further,” said Morenville. “How can we give extra burdens to the defence when we are facing an exodus?”